GMC CCKW 2.5 Ton Truck
Red Ball Express Patch
Gift of Frank Brow Jr., 2003.033.006
The Red Ball Express, one of the most famous support units of World War II, got its name from the railroad slang term for a fast freight train. But this wasn't a train on rails "it was a massive logistics operation that kept urgently needed supplies moving across France to support the Allied advance after the Normandy breakout in July 1944.The Red Ball Express was composed of many different units working together to move fuel, food and ammunition from the beaches of Normandy to the front lines. Engineers repaired the roads and military police directed the traffic, but the most renowned were the truck drivers' 75 percent of them African American" who hauled cargo almost non-stop from August to November of 1944.The Red Ball Express was created on 25 August 1944, with sixty-seven truck companies. Four days later, the number of truck companies peaked at 132, or nearly 6,000 trucks hauling fuel and supplies to the front. By the time operation of the Express stopped in mid-November 1944, it had transported more than 500,000 tons of supplies.
